Photo by Rob Martin
Welcome back – Cartoons
19 Mar
Image source: The New Yorker
We hope you had a restful vacation and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, a 2F day. On Tuesday, you will post your Out of Eden work for Footstep #2 of Learning Journey #2.
Goodbye Party
9 Mar
Photo by Rob Martin
Photo by Rob Martin
Goodbye and good luck to Moeno, Tomoki, and Mayu. It was a pleasure to teach you. Please stay in touch with your friends at AISC!
Briarhill24hrWorldTour
7 Mar
An exciting opportunity to available for you on Friday from 3:30pm – 4:00pm if you are interested in coming to my classroom to participate in the Briarhill 24 Hour World Tour. A school in Texas (USA) is doing a 24 hour Skype activity with teachers, students, and professionals around the world. It will be 4:00am their time and 3:30pm our time. A Google Form has been sent you with more information and a request for participation. This is optional, but I would love to have some students answer questions from their students. Please respond to the Google Form by Thursday at 3:30pm.
How Religion Spread Around the World
5 Mar
Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are five of the biggest religions in the world. Over the last few thousand years, these religious groups have shaped the course of history and had a profound influence on the trajectory of the human race. Through countless conflicts, conquests, missions abroad, and simple word of mouth, these religions spread around the globe and forever molded the huge geographic regions in their paths.
SEE – THINK – WONDER
When watching this video, what you see or notice?
What does it make you think about?
What questions or wonderings do you have when you watch this video?
GUIDING QUESTIONS
What story does this video tell you about the spread of religion?
What does it mean for an idea to spread?
What needs to happen for an idea to spread?
Google Hangout with Paul Salopek
3 Mar
Students –
National Geographic Education hosted a live event last night where teachers and students could ask Paul Salopek questions about his journey. He got quite a few new questions in this interview from Bishkek, where he is spending the winter months. Check it out!
March Birthdays
2 Mar
Happy birthday to the following students celebrating birthdays this month: Luca (3), Mr. Ranson (6), Florian (11), Byunggeon(24), Mayu (28), and Aidan (29). If I forgot anyone, let me know and I will fix it. Have a great day!
Fake News vs. Real News
27 Feb
This Thursday we will have our second Inspiration Conversation of this year on Fake News vs. Real News. We will be meeting on the 2nd Floor of the ES/MS CIC at 3:45 for snacks and refreshments, and we will start the session at 4:15. I hope that you can join us as we explore what makes news fake, what tools do we have to help us determine if something is fake, and what role do we have in stopping the spread of fake news. This is a pressing and important issue in the world today, which plays a role in everyone’s life. This is open to MS and HS students. See you there!
Best Dab Poll (Stem Fest)
21 Feb
Dab A Group
Dab B Group
Dab C Group
Dab D Group
Great job at STEM Fest! I loved the projects (Sustainable AISC and Surviving a Flood), and I can see you worked hard and learned a lot. I am not sure who started the dab dance move at Stem Fest, but here are a few photos I took. We need more poll questions. Vote for the best one, and send me some more poll questions to add to our class blog.
A Perspective on Chennai
21 Feb
Here is an excerpt from an interview that Riley (S.S.AllTheThings) did with Ms. Megha in 5th grade. This is a really interesting answer to her question – How has Chennai changed since you have been here?
If you feel you got an a really interesting answer to this questions for Out of Eden Footstep #4 (Learning Journey #1), let me know, and I will add it here. Good job, Riley.
Learning Journey 2 Begins!
17 FebStudents –
We have been working hard on our new project, a country comparison project. We will take a short break for next class and begin Out of Eden Learn – Learning Journey 2. Listen to Paul’s special message to students:
Here are the instructions for the first footstep. These have been shared with you too, as a Google Document.
You will have an opportunity to view many of the excellent photos on the Out of Eden Walk Instagram site and to choose one to do a See-Think-Wonder visible thinking routine. Here are two of his photos.
What is climate?
4 Feb
What is climate? How is climate different than weather? You will be researching the climate of your country for your project. These videos could be helpful.
February Birthdays
31 Jan
Happy birthday to the following students celebrating their birthday in February: Tomoyasu (2), Arnav (3), Seojin (9), Hayden (24), Amelie (25), and Clara (27). If we forgot anyone, please let me know.
M.S. Spirit Week
30 Jan
Dress for Success (Photo by Mr. Martin)
Dress for Success Day (Photo by Rob Martin)
Multiples Day (Photo by Rob Martin)
Multiples Day (Photo by Rob Martin)
This week is MS Spirit Week! Show your spirit by following the spirit week dress code.
Monday – Multiples Day
Tuesday: “Dress to Impress” Day
Wednesday: Pyjama Day
Thursday: Decades Day (50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s). NO ELECTRONIC GADGETS DAY!
Friday: Rainbow Day
OOEL – Footstep #4 – Listening to Neighbor’s Stories
22 Jan
Image source: Clipartfest
This week we will be learning about the art of asking good questions during an interview. You will interview a local person who lives in Chennai and write a story or the highlights of the interview (Question and Answer format). We will brainstorm a list of possible subjects you can interview and what makes a good question. The directions and rubric are on Moodle in the Out of Eden section and folder for 2016 – 2017. There are also exemplars or good examples of interviews done last year. They can help give you an idea of what is expected.
Argumentative Essays
11 Jan
This video gives a brief overview of argumentative essay writing. In class today and tomorrow, you will continue working on your Silk Road essential question: Which three factors had the greatest influence on trade on the Silk Road, and why? You have your graphic organizer and lessons on the Silk Road to respond to this question.
January Birthdays
9 Jan
Happy birthday to the following students celebrating birthdays this month: Suin (8), Amy (18), Palani (21), Hakin (27). If I forgot anyone or made an error, let me know. Have a great day!
Paul on the Silk Road
8 JanIn class we have been learning about the Silk Road. Here is a new article about Paul Salopek and his walk. You can also listen to the interview with him as well. Here is a script of the interview. In his article, he says this about the Silk Road and globalization, something we will discuss this week:
For the past year, Salopek has been following the ancient Silk Road trade routes that once connected China to Mediterranean. Merchants used to move precious cloths and spices. Now they move precious oil and gas. Globalization has made it possible to extract the region’s abundant natural resources, which has brought prosperity to a small but growing middle class in the region. However, that prosperity has also created resentment. Many locals are being left behind.
“That’s happening in North America too, of course,” he tells Chattopadhyay (the interviewer). “That’s what’s driving some of these movements against globalization.”
Happy New Year & Welcome Back!
8 Jan
Photo by Rob Martin
Photo by Rob Martin
Greetings and Happy New Year! I hope you and your family had a wonderful vacation with family and friends and that you are ready for school tomorrow. Tomorrow is a 1A day. I had a nice vacation with family in New York State. Here are two photos I took in New York City, one of Rockefeller Center where they have a huge Christmas tree and ice skating rink and the other of the Empire State Building showing Christmas colors.
I received this message from Out of Eden Learn the other day. Jinwon received a personal message on her photos from Paul Salopek. You can see her photos if you click on the link and read his comment. I have pasted it below too:
This is a reply from Paul Salopek:
Your text and photos are great examples of keen observation. The physical details, the noting of time and place, the background (a bit of recent history), all these elements are what journalists like me use to build a good story. It requires close attention. Keep at it. Carry a small notepad around with you to jot such things down—you can use them in later stories.
Google Q & A – Paul Salopek
16 Dec
Image source: Photo by Kevin Crouch
I hope you enjoyed the Google Hangout with Paul Salopek today. I received many good questions via email and will save them for future ‘hangouts.’ If you want to see the places where our students asked questions, skip to 22:54 (EJ) and 41:44 (Amy). Here is an excerpt of what Paul said:
EJ: What is trade like on the New Silk Road?
Paul: Cool! That’s a really good question. That’s a great question because when you mention the two words Silk Road together you have images of camels…and yet the Silk Roads continue today and that’s something I am writing about now. China has invested trillions of dollars in something called the “One Road, One Belt” project. It’s the most expensive infrastructure project in the history of the world, and it’s designed to tie Europe and Asia together with shipping routes, highways, and railroads throughout the Eurasian continent. From foot level today, it looks like Turkish trucks roaring past on a highway built by South Koreans. It looks like railroads built partly by Australian technology that are being plied by trains from Belarus. So what it is…is a miniature snapshot of globalization….”
The New Silk Road & Globalization
15 Dec
These videos make connections between the ancient Silk Road network and the New Silk Road routes that China and other countries are developing today.
Why are they developing these ancient routes today?
Is the ancient Silk Road an example of globalization?
Should the ancient Silk Road be renamed?
Google Hangout with Paul Salopek – Tomorrow!
15 Dec
Image source: Screen from Google Maps
Students – We have an exciting opportunity tomorrow at 10:30am in the CIC. Paul Salopek and Out of Eden Learn will be hosting a LIVE Google Hangout Question and Answer (Q & A) session for students and teachers. He is in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Please comment here or send me a question you would like to ask. He has been walking the the ancient routes of the Silk Roads, so this is also a great opportunity to ask him questions about this topic. Your A block teacher will release you to go to the CIC. Here is a great CNN story about the Silk Roads today with interactive maps and stories about the countries along the present day ancient networks for the Silk Roads. Click HERE to see the stories.
More Out of Eden Photos!
7 Dec
Photo by Amelie
Reflection by Amelie
Photo by Yejin
Reflection by Yejin
Photo by Clara
Reflection by Clara
Photo by Arnav
Reflection by Arnav
Photo by Hayden
Photo by Florian
Photo by Ava
Photo bu Seojin
Photo by Natalie
Photo by Sanjeev
Photo by Amy
I am sharing some more photos and a few very thoughtfully written reflections by students in their e-portfolios. I am really impressed with your photos and I have enjoyed reading your reflections. The ones I shared here are among several that really impressed me and where students made strong connections between Paul’s walk and your work with Out of Eden Learn. Keep up the good work. We will start Out of Eden, Footstep #4 as soon as we return from winter break and we will aim to finish the remaining two footsteps by the end of January or early February. Keep up the good work!
Out of Eden Walk
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